The trove of 1.5 million messages posted to the Ethereum blockchain gives a vibrant cross-section of life on-chain.
Whereas most degens completely leverage blockchains for monetary transactions, distributed ledgers additionally facilitate the immortalization of messages on-chain.
Greater than 1.5 million messages have been printed on the Ethereum blockchain up to now, offering a snapshot into the cross-section of life on-chain.
A latest evaluation by CroissantEth, a web3 influencer, discovered love letters, music lyrics, and obituaries buried in Ethereum’s block historical past.
The community captures moments of elation, desperation, and every thing in between — even non secular proclamations concerning the Buddha.
However whereas a number of the messages printed on blockchains are trivial, on-chain messaging additionally offers a critically necessary utility — facilitating the immutable, censorship-resistant, and everlasting publication of data.
“A blockchain is, at its core, digital speech; it’s a ledger that communicates across space and time, energy, and debits and credits,” Arthur Hayes, the previous CEO of BitMEX, advised The Defiant. “It is absolutely central to the value proposition of blockchain-based cryptocurrencies that speech be unfettered. As such, any ways in which a public blockchain can preserve free speech should be supported.”
In 2018, a Chinese language scholar activist printed an open letter on Ethereum after the observe was censored on native social media. The letter claimed that the creator, Yue Xin, was compelled to destroy a request for info regarding a sexual misconduct case at Peking College, a prestigious college that Xin attended. The sufferer allegedly killed herself in 1998 after being harassed by a professor at Peking College, and her story grew to become a rallying cry for China’s #MeToo motion on the time.
Amid the covid-10 pandemic in 2020, Sarah Zheng, a Chinese language journalist, used Ethereum to publish an interview with a Wuhan-based physician with regards to the illness’s outbreak after the interview was banned from WeChat. The physician claimed she was the topic of “unprecedented and severe reprimand” by native authorities in December 2019 after issuing a warning to different medical professionals regarding a affected person recognized with covid-19 because the existence of an atypical pneumonia-like sickness first started to come back to gentle.
Lower than three weeks later, the World Well being Group launched a blockchain-based platform for sharing information on the coronavirus pandemic. The platform, MiPasa, leveraged Hyperledger — a permissioned fork of Ethereum.
Ethereum has constantly proved a preferred platform for Chinese language dissidents looking for to talk out towards political repression.
“Oct 13th, 2022, a citizen put up pro-democracy banners in Beijing, he/she was arrested by police, and related images were censored,” one Ethereum person wrote on Oct. 23, 2022. “We, people of China, want to spread this message that speaks our minds in places without censorship… Freedom NOT Lockdown. Dignity NOT Lies. Reform NOT Regression. Elections NOT Dictatorship. Citizens NOT Slaves. #End Xictatorship #FreeChina.”
“Censorship resistance is a core tenant of blockchains,” Hudson Jameson, previously of the Ethereum Basis, advised The Defiant. “It is one of the main things separating what we build from an ordinary distributed network.”
Jameson famous that the immutable nature of blockchains allows quite a lot of highly effective use circumstances, together with offering timestamping for patent blueprints and different time-sensitive documentation.
“I strongly believe prior art arguments in patent cases will eventually utilize blockchains as a way to provably timestamp an invention,” Hudson mentioned. “There is also applicability with proving you had an idea for a patent or a submitted patent before others.”
Quite a few initiatives have additionally sought to make the most of Ethereum and different blockchains to create land possession registries. These efforts sometimes search to beat disputes ensuing from incomplete or lacking land possession information and fight corrupt land seizures in rising economies.
Combing by way of blockchain messages
Final month, CroissantEth shared a number of the highlights from a deep dive into the trove of messages hosted on Ethereum to social media.
“It’s such a wonderfully dark and beautiful place at the same time,” they tweeted.
Whereas lots of the on-chain messages unearthed exhibit few intentions past aimlessly farting right into a binary void, others had been despatched to particular recipients with direct intent.
Determined pleas from hackers’ victims
Victims of hacks and scams reaching out to their assailants comprise a standard theme amongst on-chain messages.
One person claimed to be participating in satanic rituals involving severed goat heads in a bid to summon darkish spirits that might avenge their monetary losses.
“Every goddamn night, I will summon the Dark Lord himself and make a blood offering, demanding your immediate damnation,” an Ethereum person mentioned. “Here’s your last chance: return my ETH or face a hex worse than anything you could’ve ever imagined.”
Others sought revenge by way of much less esoteric means.
“We have already confirmed your identity, and the police forces of China, the USA, and Russia have been involved,” the obvious sufferer of a hack wrote. “All stolen funds have been marked for tracking and cannot be used, and the financial counterparties will be frozen. Return by November 25, 2023, and we will offer a $10 million white hat reward. If not returned by that time, police forces from multiple countries will take action.”
One other person threatened to take their very own life ought to a hacker fail to return 125 stolen Ether, claiming to be hiding the loss from their partner and household — an sadly prevalent theme.
“I am contacting you as a last resort before suicide, because my life has lost all meaning since you took everything,” the purported sufferer posted.“My two daughters and my wife… are not aware that I lost everything in your exploit.”
Random acts of kindness
In contrast, some messages showcased crypto holders’ propensity for random acts of kindness.
“I’m crying, thank you for your help,” one person wrote after reaching out to random wallets requesting monetary help and receiving 0.5 ETH from an nameless tackle. “You don’t know how much it means to me.”
Nonetheless, most pleas for charity had been left unanswered.
“Hey, happy New Year, I have birthday tomorrow,” one pockets mentioned. “[Could] you send something, anything whould be good. I have lost one leg few year ago and can’t work good.”
On-chain love letters
Blockchains additionally host deeply private interactions, together with romance.
“In the first few blocks after Zcash launched, someone sent a transaction with an encrypted memo to someone that contained an IPFS hash that pointed to concert tickets,” Jameson mentioned. “It was an encrypted love note on-chain.”
Ethereum’s library of on-chain messages equally options many crypto-native professions of affection.
“For Donya, echo of the universe, a beacon in the vast expanse,” one letter mentioned. “In a multiverse of paths untold beside you, I yearn to roam, with a whisper and a dance of our own, our hands, perfectly entwined.”
One other message information that Mr. Yang and Ms. Du grew to become engaged on Dec. 3, 2021, in Beijing.
Nonetheless, not each love letter appeared to culminate in a contented ending.
“I was a naive soul named John, captivated by Emily’s charm,” ‘John’ mentioned. “Love’s promises shattered, leaving me broken… I am now burdened and my life has lost hope.”
Different messages may very well be grounds for a restraining order.
“Hi Sal… I really wish you would unblock me,” one other pockets wrote. “Every moment since you blocked me has felt like an eternity as I wait for you to hopefully unblock me and send me a message… I know it’s only been a few days but I’m scared I’m going to lose you forever.”
Rivals change into companions
Enemies have even turned allies by way of on-chain messaging, with two rival arbitrage buying and selling bot operators showing to place their variations apart within the identify of maximizing income.
“Hi man, I know we are competing with each other,” one person mentioned. “The final ending is there is no profit we can gain. I can given you a half profit whenever I make a shot if you give up… I will make a new contract which transfers a half to you automatically.”
“Good, will keep an eye for you if there’s new competitor,” the recipient replied. “Can share your gas cost if there’s any competition.”
Joyful birthday, Vitalik
Ethereum customers have leveraged the ability of immutable messaging merely to ship birthday needs.
“Happy Birthday, Vitalik!” one pockets despatched to Vitalik Buterin, Ethereum’s chief scientist. “Your groundbreaking work is changing lives all over the world, providing access to financial possibilities for countless individuals.”
